Abstract: Thermaltake's Frio Advanced heatsink stands 161mm tall and weighs upwards of 954 grams, it is rated to heat loads of 230 Watts by the manufacturer. The heatsink ships with two 130mm PWM fans arranged in a push-pull configuration that rotate at 2000-800RPM.

Thermaltake's Frio Advanced heatsink is basically a reboot
of the Jing heatsink, but this time around the copper heatpipes are
exposed at the base, none of the aluminum surfaces are nickel
plated and the heatpipes not soldered to the cooling fins. We
mention this seemingly minor point of
construction, since the Frio Advanced's heatpipes are pressed into each aluminum fin with a new
type of swage joint we haven't encountered before.

On close inspection, a very narrow gap
on either side of the swage is visible when the heatsink
is held up in front of a bright light for a handful of the ten
fin-to-heatpipe joints. Given that these small gaps are carried across the
entire stack of 40 fins, it's
something that will impact the efficiency of heat conduction. More on this in a moment,
first the specs for Thermaltake's Frio Advanced heatsink.

Thermaltake's Frio Advanced heatsink stands 161mm tall
and weighs upwards of 954 grams, it is rated to heat loads of 230 Watts by the
manufacturer. The heatsink ships with two 130mm PWM fans arranged in a push-pull
configuration that rotate at 2000-800RPM. Behind each fan shroud is a 110mm tall
aluminum fin tower connected by five U-shaped, 6mm diameter copper heatpipes
which are exposed at the base.

Heatpipes that make direct contact with the
integrated heatspreader of the processor minimize thermal resistance as heat
energy is conducted directly to the heatpipes, rather than via an intermediary
heatspreader. The five 6mm diameter heatpipes then thread up
through 40 or so aluminum cooling fins where heat is dissipated into the
surrounding air mass. In principle, it's an efficient way to build a heatsink.

As computer enthusiasts, we all know that
every heatsink works best when it's base makes solid contact with the
processor. To that end, a flat base which is smooth and in direct contact with
the CPU is preferred over one that's rough and wavy. Any small gaps that do
exist need to be filled by thermal interface compound... but what about the
other end? What if the heatpipes make less than perfect contact with the
aluminum fins of the heatsink?

The new type of swage joint used to connect the five
heatpipes to the aluminum fins of the Frio Advanced heatsink plainly exhibits
small gaps between copper and aluminum, for a short section of the heatpipe
circumference on either side of the swaged aluminum tabs. Amazingly, after
holding the heatsink up in front of bright light, slivers of light are visible
in these regions for roughly four of the ten joints. Given the thermal
performance of the Frio Advanced heatsink, it would appear that thermal joint
resistance is rearing its ugly head, unfortunately.

Heatsink Mounting
Hardware

The
Thermaltake Frio Advanced heatsink ships with an small assortment of mounting
brackets, screws and nuts. The heatsink installs onto Intel socket
LGA775/1155/1156/1366/2011 and AMD socket AM2/AM3+/FM1 processors. All Intel
sockets will require a machine screw threading in from behind the motherboard
with a metal backplate for added support. Access to the back of the motherboard
goes without saying.

For AMD
platforms, including older socket 939/940 and newer socket AM2/AM3+
motherboards, the situation is not very different from the Intel mounting
procedure.

Apart
from the mounting brackets, the Frio Advanced heatsink is bundled with a set of
instructions and a small tube of thermal compound.

FrostyTech's Test Methodologies are outlined in detail here if you care to know what equipment is
used, and the parameters under which the tests are conducted. Now let's move
forward and take a closer look at this heatsink, its acoustic characteristics,
and of course its performance in the thermal
tests!